Ivanovic marches on at US Open

Crowd favourite Ana Ivanovic eased into the third round of the US Open with a comfortable win over Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday.

The Serb was tipped for glory after winning her first grand slam title at the French Open in 2008 and becoming world number one, but instead injuries and a crisis of confidence hit and she has never really recovered.

Remarkably, since her Roland Garros triumph, she has not been past the fourth round at any grand slam and has gone out in the first round of all of them over the past three years.

This year has also been patchy. The 24-year-old won only one game against Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round of Wimbledon and, hampered by a foot problem, she was thrashed 6-0 6-0 by Roberta Vinci in her last match before the US Open.

But it has been so far, so good at Flushing Meadows and she hit 39 winners in a 6-2 6-2 victory over Arvidsson.

The first-round loss for eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki has opened up Ivanovic's draw and a quarter-final appearance looks well within her grasp.

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Fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, whose career has also been on a downward spiral, progressed with a 6-4 6-2 win over Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino, while there were also wins for Dominika Cibulkova and Maria Kirilenko.

Russia Kirilenko, the 14th seed, has been in fine form this summer and she beat Hungary's Greta Arn 6-3 6-2, while 13th seed Cibulkova had a tougher time in a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7/3) victory over Bojana Jovanovski.

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